October 18, 2018, 10:00 a.m. CEST – Brickblock, a technical service provider facilitating real estate investments on the blockchain, has partnered with solarisBank AG, the tech platform with a banking license, to launch a state-of-the-art digital investor clearing process.

The process will require those looking to invest in Brickblock clients’ investment opportunities to submit AML/KYC (“Anti-Money Laundering”/”Know Your Customer”) information to be reviewed by solarisBank. solarisBank has a German banking license and enforces the highest standard of regulatory compliance. This aligns with Brickblock’s effort to establish legal frameworks in various European jurisdictions that allow the company’s clients to list investment opportunities via Brickblock.

The first investment, Holt Hill, is a 50-unit residential property located in Birkenhead, United Kingdom and is offered by Brickblock client Hillview Homes. The funding period will open in the coming weeks.

Investors will be able to submit all necessary documents, as well as complete video identity verification via solarisBank partner IDnow, online in less than half an hour.

Appointments with notaries, paper document scanning and submissions, and wet-ink signatures are just some of the aspects to be streamlined by Brickblock’s integration of solarisBank’s AML/KYC solution.

A robust clearance process is integral for Brickblock’s mission to allow anyone to invest in real estate from around the world regardless of their country of residence (some restrictions apply). Cutting out middlemen from traditional clearance processes means investments incur only a fraction of the fees associated with investing via traditional financial institutions, and significantly reduces the complexity of accessing investment opportunities.

One of Brickblock’s key benefits is allowing investors to sell their share of an investment at any time, which introduces liquidity to an otherwise illiquid market. As such, the clearance process ensures that shares can only be traded to other investors who have passed the AML/KYC process. This guarantees security and regulatory compliance regardless of how many times an investment is traded. Furthermore, the asset manager will always know the identity of an investment’s new shareholder (recipient) in the case that it is traded.

“By automating our processes through solarisBank we can offer our clients an institutional-grade AML/KYC service that ensures compliance at the highest level,” said Brickblock founder Jakob Drzazga.

About solarisBank

solarisBank is the first banking platform with a full banking license which enables companies to offer their own financial products. Through APIs, partners gain access to solarisBank’s modular services including payments and e-money, lending, digital banking as well as services provided by integrated third party providers. Through this, solarisBank creates a highly developed technological banking ecosystem for FinTechs, established digital companies, as well as banks and corporates.

The Berlin-based company was founded in 2016 and is led by CEO Dr. Roland Folz, board members Jörg Diewald, Marko Wenthin and Andreas Bittner, as well as CFO Alexander Engel and CPO Dr. Jörg Howein. To date, solarisBank has raised more than EUR 95 million from renowned investors, including BBVA, Visa, Lakestar, ABN AMRO’s Digital Impact Fund, Arvato Financial Solutions, SBI Group, Finleap and yabeo.

About Brickblock

Brickblock provides a technical service that allows for real estate investments to be transacted via smart contracts on the blockchain. This allows transactions – whether when investing in an asset or raising capital for a project – to be conducted cheaper, faster, and more efficiently than via traditional financial institutions. The proprietary technology that facilitates these transactions has been successfully audited by ConsenSys Diligence, a leader in the blockchain industry.

In October of 2018, Brickblock secured a partnership with real estate management firm Peakside Capital to launch the world’s first tokenized real estate fund. The company has also partnered with JTC Group, which will be responsible for providing administration services to the structure of Brickblock’s first offering. Brickblock’s partnership with solarisBank guarantees investors who participate in Brickblock clients’ offerings are cleared according to the highest AML/KYC standards.